How Biofuels Can Help Struggling Airlines

by Josh Lew (Mother Nature Network) As oil prices rise, airlines look to biofuels to protect their bottom lines. -- ... Today, airlines are bracing for a fuel price rise. For example, American Airlines cited rising fuel prices when it announced cutbacks on transpacific routes this year. As a result, even more airline companies are looking to biofuels as a short- and long-term solution to unpredictable oil markets.

Legacy carriers such as United and KLM/Air France have been driving forces behind development, but even low-cost carriers like Mexico’s Interjet and Australia's Jetstar Airways have used biofuels.

Developing markets are getting in on biofuel testing and development, too. Indian carrier SpiceJet operated a domestic flight in August 2018 using a biofuel mixture. According to the airline’s chairman, Ajay Singh, this was the first commercial biofuel flight by an airline in the developing world.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India, along with China, Indonesia and Vietnam, will account for a large amount of the increase in global air travel by 2035.

For both airlines and passengers, biofuel mixtures seem like a win-win. According to the IATA, 130,000 flights have already flown using biofuel mixtures. Projections by the industry organization and NASA have said that the use of 50 percent biofuel mixtures across the industry can cut emissions by 50 to 70 percent. That would reach the IATA’s long-term goals of cutting airline emissions in half by 2050.

A number of companies are developing biofuels using everything from algae to flowering plants to oils created by garbage and food waste. Biofuel refineries are struggling to meet demand, but delivery of alternative fuel is what currently makes it a more-expensive option.

Airports in Oslo and Bergen, Norway, have biofuel delivery systems alongside their traditional jet kerosene infrastructure. In the U.S., it is airlines, not airports or alternative energy investors, who are pushing the development of biofuels forward.

United Airlines, for one, is betting big on biofuels. It has installed infrastructure at Los Angeles International Airport to make alternative fuels a regular part of its operations there, and it has invested in biofuel companies. READ MORE